This is the last Will and Testament of me Sir Robert Johnson Eden of Windlestone in the County of Durham Baronet I direct all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses to be paid as soon as conveniently may be after my decease and I charge all my real and personal estate with the payment thereof and of the pecuniary legacies or sums in gross hereinafter bequeathed but I direct that my personal estate not specifically bequeathed shall be the primary fund for those purposes I give and bequeath unto my dear sisters Mrs Methold the Countess of Athlone (??) Mrs Duncombe Shafto Mrs Northmore (??) Mrs Wilson and Miss Charlotte Eden the sum of twenty pounds

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sterling a piece for rings I give and bequeath to my said sister Charlotte Eden a set of Johnsons Lives of the Poets in xxx and a set of Bells British Theatre in xxx I give and bequeath to my old and existent house steward John Robson as a small mark of my regard for his long and invaluable services to my father and myself during a period of fifty years the sum of two hundred pounds sterling and I also remit and forgive the said John Robson all or any sum or sums of money which he may stand indebted to me at the time of my decease I give and bequeath unto Mrs Ann Platt of Windlestone the sum of one hundred pounds sterling as a mark of my regard I give and bequeath to my steward James Wilson the sum of fifty pounds sterling I give and bequeath the following share annuities to the several persons hereinafter named that is to say one share annuity or equal sum of fifty pounds sterling unto the said Ann Platt during her natural life one share annuity or yearly sum of eighty pounds sterling unto my Butler and valet Thomas Fibbeson (??) during his natural life for his long and faithful service one share annuity or yearly sum of fifteen pounds sterling to Stephen Hope of Windlestone during his natural life one share annuity or yearly sum of twelve pounds sterling to Thomas Turnbull of the City of Durham during his natural life one share annuity or yearly sum of ten pounds sterling to Ann Proctor of Bishops Durham in the County of Durham during her natural life and one share annuity or yearly sum of ten pounds ten shillings sterling to Thomas Young of Windlestone during his natural life and I hereby charge all and singular my real estates hereinafter devised with the payment of the said several annuities respectively (* illegible note in the margin at this point) and I hereby give to the said several annuitants respectively full and absolute powers and xxx by xxx and entry and xxx of the rents and profits of the said real estates to recover and enforce payment of the said several annuities respectively when the same or any of them shall be in arrear and also the property tax for the time being payable in respect of the said annuities respectively and I hereby further direct that the said several annuities shall be paid half yearly in every year free and clear from the xxx tax property tax and all other taxes and deductions whatsoever the first half yearly payment thereof respectively to commence and be paid at the expiration of six calendar months from the day of my decease I give and bequeath to Thomas xxx William Baxter and Thomas Wallas respectively if they respectively shall be in my service at my decease but not otherwise one years wages a piece and a suit of mourning a piece I give and bequeath to my housekeeper xxx xxx if she shall be in my service at the time of my decease but not otherwise the sum of twenty pounds sterling I give and bequeath to every other woman servant who shall have been two years or upwards in my service and continue to be in it at the time of my decease but not otherwise four guineas a piece and a suit of mourning a piece I give and bequeath to the poor householders of Windlestone township the sum of twenty pounds sterling to be paid out of my personal estate only and to be distributed amongst them at the judgment of my executor hereinafter named and my will is xxx I do hereby direct that the xxx tax or duty which shall be payable in respect of the said legacies and annuities hereinbefore bequeathed shall be paid out of my personal estate and that the several legacies and annuities given to my servants shall be paid to them over and above and in addition to any sum or sums of money that may be due to them for wages or otherwise at the time of my decease I give and bequeath all the Rest Residue and Remainder of my personal estate goods and chattels whatsoever and wheresoever after and subject to the payment of my just debts funeral testamentary expenses and the said legacies and bequests except the said annuities hereinbefore by me given as aforesaid and all my estate and interest therein unto my brother Morton John Davison esquire late Morton John Eden absolutely to and for his own use and benefit I give

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and devise my Manors or Lordships Rectories xxx messuages lands tenements tithes and hereditaments situate lying arising or being at or near Windlestone West Auckland Saint xxx Auckland and Bishops Auckland in the County or Durham or in the city of Durham and Brignal in the County of York and a parcel of land purchased by me of the late Mrs Mary Lambton at Romanby near Northallerton in the North Riding of the County of York and all other my real estates in the Counties of Durham and York and elsewhere in Great Britain and all my estate and interest therein unto Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto of Whitworth in the County of Durham Esquire William Hesfield (??) of  Beaucepeth (??) in the County of Durham xxx and Thomas Hopper of the City of Durham esquire and their heirs subject to the said annuities to given and devised as aforesaid to hold the value unto the said Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto William Nesfield and Thomas Hopper and their heirs subject as aforesaid to and for the several uses upon the trusts and to and for the intents and purposes and under and subject to the powers provisos declarations and limitations hereinafter limited declared or expressed of and concerning the same (that is to say) to the use of my said brother the said Morton John Davison and his assigns for and during the term of his natural life without impeachment of or for any manner of waste and from and immediately after the determination of that estate by forfeiture or otherwise in his lifetime then for the use of the said Robert Eden Duncombe Shafto William Nesfield and Thomas Hopper and their heirs during the life of the said Morton John Davison upon trust to support and preserve the contingent uses and estates hereinafter limited from being defeated or destroyed and for that purpose to make entries and bring actions as occasion shall require but nevertheless to permit and suffer the said Morton John Davison and his assigns during his life to receive and take the rents issues and profits of the said hereditaments and premises to and for his and their own use and benefit and from and immediately after his decease to the use of the first son of the said Morton John Davison lawfully be begotten and of the heirs male of the body of such first son lawfully issuing and for default of such issue to the use of the second third fourth and all and every other the son and sons of the said Morton John Davison lawfully to be begotten severally successively and in remainder one after another as they shall be in seniority of age and priority of xxx and of the several and respective heirs male of the body and bodies of all and every such son and sons lawfully issuing the elder of such sons and the heirs male of his body being always to be preferred and to take before the younger of such sons and the heirs male of his or their body and bodies and in default of such issue to the use of Sir William Eden Baronet his heirs and assigns for ever provided always and I do hereby declare my will and mind to be that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Morton John Davison when and as he shall by virtue of the limitations aforesaid be in the actual possession  of or be entitled to the rents issues and profits of the said hereditaments and premises by any deed or deeds testament or testaments in writing with or without power or revocation to be by him sealed and delivered in the presence of and attested by two or more credible witnesses or by his last will and testament in writing or any codicil or codicils to be by him signed and published in the presence of and attested by three or more credible witnesses to grant limit or appoint to or to the use of or in trust for any woman or women whom he may marry either before or after any such marriage for the life of any such woman for her jointure and in bar or without being in bar of her dower at the common law or by custom any annual sum or yearly rent charge not exceeding the annual sum of one thousand pounds of lawful money of Great Britain free from taxes and without any other deductions whatsoever (except an amount of the tax upon property or income) to be issuing out of and charged and chargeable upon all or any part or parts of the said hereditaments and

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premises hereinbefore devised with the usual powers and remedies of distress entry and perception of the rents issues and profits of the same premises which shall be so charged with the said annual sum or rent charge for recovering and enforcing payment thereof respectively when in arrear and also to limit and appoint the hereditaments which shall be so charged as aforesaid to any person or persons his or their executors administrators and assigns for any term or terms of years upon such trusts for better securing the payment of any such yearly rent charge as to the said Morton John Davison shall seem meet but so that upon the death of the woman for the benefit of whom any such term shall be so limited and the payment of the arrears of her rent charge and the expenses incurred by the non-payment thereof the term to be limited for securing the said yearly rent charge or so much of the same term as shall not be disposed of under the trusts to be declared for securing the same yearly rent charge shall be made to cease and determine provided always and I do hereby declare my will and mind to be that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said Morton John Davison during his life and after his decease for the person or persons who shall for the time being under or by virtue of the limitations aforesaid be in the actual possession of or well entitled to the hereditaments and premises aforesaid or the rents issues and profits thereof and during the minority of any such person or persons for his or their Guardian or Guardians from time to time to devise and lease all or any part or parts of the said hereditaments and premises with the appurtenances to any person or persons for any term or number of years not exceeding twenty one years in possession and not in reversion or by way of future interest so as then be reserved or be made payable on every such lease during the continuance thereof the best and most improved yearly rent or yearly rents to go along with and be incident to the immediate reversion of the premises so to be leased that can or may be reasonably had or gotten for the same without taking any xxx premium or xxx for the making thereof and so that in every such case there be contained a condition of xxx on the non-payment of the rent or rents to be thereon or thereby respectively reserved by the space of twenty one days next after the same shall become due and payable and so that the lessee or respective lessees to whom such lease or leases shall be made do xxx and deliver a counterpart or counterparts of such lease or leases and so that none of the lessees to whom any such lease or leases shall be made be by any clause or words therein contained authorised to commit waste or exempted from punishment for committing waste any thing hereinbefore contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding and last I hereby constitute and appoint my said brother Morton John Davison Executor of this my last will and testament In witness whereof I the said Robert Johnson Eden the testator have to this my last will and testament contained in five sheets of paper set my hand and seal that is to say my hand to the first four sheets an my hand and seal to this the fifth and last sheet this fourteenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fifteen Robert Johnson Eden signed sealed published and declared for the testator Sir Robert Johnson Eden as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other subscribe our names as witnesses hereto George Bedford Solicitor Bulford Row London William Henry Keysham xxx xxx Clerk to Mr Bedford.

Windlestone March 1835

Dear Morton Should it please God to allow me sufficient time & power for doing so I intend to make a new will lest it be otherwise ordained however I think it most advisable to request of you in such case a grant of the following annuities to Thomas Wallace my old Groom who has lived here since 1813 £25 a year To Wm Baxter xxx 1813 £25 a year To John Winfield my valet and butler (who in that capacity  previously as footman

Footnote – postponing it till J J Campbells new act is passed

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has been from ten to eleven years in my service) £40 a year To my footman Frederick Robinson £15 a year (None of these annuities to take place unless each person above mentioned continue in his place to the date of my death) To my land steward xxx Robinson a legacy of £50 To my house steward Henry Thompson a legacy of £50 To all my female servants who derive no benefit from my will (* illegible margin note at this point) or these xxx a years wages (* illegible margin note) over and above what may be due to them at the time of my decease I beg you moreover to let each of my Godchildren viz Revd John Shafto Eden Northmore (??) Charlotte Greville Robert Nesfield & Alexander Ellis (and any other Godson or Goddaughter who may be overlooked in this enumeration) have £50 each amongst the annuities I wish to be xxx my present annual allowance of £100 to John Methold & to Edward Methold as a mark of regard you will have the goodness to present £100 as a legacy. Pray offer Mrs Greville any commentation of xxx as an equivalent that she may wish for. God bless and prosper you for many years in the enjoyment of our united property & believe me dear Morton yr affect. Brother Rbt J Eden

xxx M J Davison esq xxx which I am well assured he will attend to in lieu of a new will March 9^th 1835 RJE

ps Pray continue yr weekly allowances to old invalid labourers.

This is a Codicil to the last will and testament of me Sir Robert Johnson Eden of Windlestone in the County of Durham Baronet which will is dated the fourteenth day of April one thousand eight hundred and fifteen whereas by my said will I appointed as the executor thereof my late only brother Morton John Davison esquire who died on the twenty eighth day of June last Now I do by this codicil appoint my nephew John Methold Esquire the sole executor of my said will and I hereby ratify confirm and republish my said will as witness my hand this tenth day of July one thousand eight hundred and forty one Rbt Johnson Eden Signed and declared by Sir Robert Johnson Eden Baronet as and for a codicil to his last will and testament in the presence of us who being present at the same time have in his presence and in the presence of each other hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses xxx xxx of Beamish Park William Adamson of Beamish Park

In the Prerogative Court of Canterbury

In the xxx of Sir Robert Johnson Eden Baronet deceased

Appeared Personally John Griffith of the City of Durham in the County of Durham esquire and Thomas Griffith of the same place Gentleman and having now carefully viewed and inspected the paper writing or letter hereunto annexed bearing date the ninth day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirty five and purporting to be and contain a codicil to the last will and testament of the said Sir Robert Johnson Eden late of Windlestone in the County of Durham Baronet deceased and as it was originally written fair before the several alterations now appearing on the face thereof were made beginning thus ‘Windlestone March 9 1835 Dear Morton Should it please God’ ending thus ‘enjoyment of our united property & believe me dear Morton yr most affect brother’ and being thus subscribed ‘Rbt J Eden’ with the following superscription thereon to wit ‘M J Davison esq Directions (which I am well assured he will attend to in lieu of a new will March 9 1835’ which is subscribed with initials RJE and a postscript to such superscription as follows ‘ps pray continue yr weekly allowance to old invalid labourers’ also subscribed with initials thus ‘RJE’ The said codicil having also a memorandum at the foot of the first page xxx as follows ‘postponing it till J J Campbells new act is passed’ and at the foot of the second page an xxx to wit ‘In my will each has I observe 4 6s over and above xxx’ ‘pray after that in effect for a years wages over and above’ as in ps the said appeared jointly and severally made oath that they knew and were well acquainted with the said deceased for many years before and to the

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time of his death and were also well acquainted with his xxx and character of handwriting and subscription having frequently seen him write and write and subscribe his name to writings and that they verily and in their consciences believe the whole body xxx and contents of the said paper writing or letter as originally written fair as aforesaid and the said name Rbt J Eden subscribed thereto and the hereinbefore mentioned superscription and postscript thereon with the initials RJE severally subscribed thereto as aforesaid and the said memorandum at the foot of the first page and also the hereinbefore xxx addition at the xxx of the second page thereof to be all of the proper handwriting and subscription of the said Sir Robert Johnson Eden Baronet the testator deceased. John Griffith Thomas Griffith On the twenty sixth day of November 1844 the said John Griffith and Thomas Griffith were duly sworn to the truth of this affidavit by virtue of the annexed requisition before me Edwd Elden xxx

Proved at London with 2 codicils 30^th Nov 1844 before the judge by the oath of John Eden Esq hereinbefore John Methold the nephew the sole exor to whom admon was granted having been first sworn by xxx duly to administer.